Lime Fertilizer with Prolonged Balanced Effect Period

Valli Loide, Julia Nikolajeva, Ahto Rani

Abstract

Soil acidification and decalcification are mostly continuous. From the aspect of soil quality maintenance and improvement, the soil requires stable calcium content. The more acidic is the soil and the finer are the lime fertilizer particles, the easier they dissolve, and the soil becomes poor in calcium. In order to modify the rate and duration of lime fertilizer dissolution, this work included investigation of solubility and dissolution rates of various fractions of limestone. Based on the dissolution rates of particles with different sizes, the content of different fractions can be calculated so as to make the solubility of lime fertilizer more stable and long-term. A long-term uniform solubility provides a more stable available calcium content in the soil, which facilitates the formation and development of beneficial soil characteristics. In the field trials, upon liming with a fertiliser with prolonged effect time, the content of available Ca in soil was more stable and remained at optimum level also in 4rd-5th year.